Paint mixing machines are commonly used (by retailers and commercial sellers alike) to mix paint at the time of sale or otherwise prior to use. Adequate agitation of the paint is beneficial to ensure that individual paint components that may have settled are redistributed to form the desired homogenous paint mixture.
These mixing machines are available in a variety of styles. Regardless of style, however, the primary function of these machines is to securely hold a sealed, generally cylindrical paint can or bucket and impart a particular motion thereto, e.g., axial shaking, spinning, or orbital movement. Such motion agitates the container until the paint is adequately mixed.
Currently, many do-it-yourself (DIY) and professional painters rely on custom color matching at the time of sale to provide paints that have a specific color or other characteristic, e.g., texture. This color customization is typically achieved by adding one or more colorants or tinting agents to a neutral (e.g., white) paint base. These colorants are often provided as a concentrated mixture of solid pigment particles dispersed within a base fluid. Other components (e.g., surfactants) may also be included with the colorant.
Unlike paint, which is usually provided in conventional cylindrical cans (e.g., one gallon) or buckets (e.g., five gallon), concentrated colorants are often packaged in different containers. For example, many colorants are provided in plastic containers (e.g., quart or gallon size) that are non-circular (e.g., rectangular) in cross-section. These containers may incorporate a resealable pour spout and optionally a handle near a top end of the container. The colorant may be poured into an open paint can before the paint is mixed.
After packaging, the solid pigment in the colorant may settle towards the bottom of the container. As a result of this settling, the concentration of the pigment may not be equivalent throughout the volume, e.g., a higher concentration of pigment may be present near the bottom of the container. As one can appreciate, significant variation in pigment concentration may result in unintended coloring results.
In order to redistribute the pigment, the colorant may be mixed prior to use. Manual shaking of the container, while adequate, may be physically fatiguing and yield less than desirable results. Accordingly, it would be preferable to utilize an existing paint mixing machine to mix the colorant before use. However, conventional paint mixing machines are generally designed to accommodate standard, cylindrical (metallic) one gallon paint cans and/or five gallon cylindrical plastic buckets. Inserting a rectangular container into such a mixing machine (if even possible) may result in damage to the container and/or the mixing machine and/or poor mixing results.